


to smother the sun

by erzi



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 22:09:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17568836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erzi/pseuds/erzi
Summary: "I prefer sunrises, though.""How so?" Akaashi asks, because he wants to know, and because he knows it is what Bokuto wants him to do.Expectedly, Bokuto preens. "They're the start of a new day! Twenty-four hours of a gajillion possibilities that I and I alone have the power to fulfill! It pumps me up!" He's been bouncing around as he's said this, full of energy even after a hard practice.Now Akaashi's suggestion of a smile is a faithful truth. "That's very like you, Bokuto-san.""I know!"





	to smother the sun

The clouds are painted on the canvas of the sky in long, thin streaks. They stretch as far as Akaashi can see, all the way to the horizon, pastel colors deepening where the sun is setting. And they're lazily suspended, unmoving in this evening where even the breeze is too tired to stir.

A hand is waved in front of his eyes. "Hellooo? Akaashi, you here?"

He blinks, vision briefly fuzzy as it refocuses not on the sky but this hand, thick and well-lined. Bokuto's hand, which he now pulls back to put on his hip. His head is tilted to the side, tufts of his hair brushing his shoulder.

"Did you space out on me?" Bokuto asks – but not accusingly; that's not in him. He's beaming and his eyes are twin discs of gold.

He's brighter than this fading light that once dominated the sky. And how much more permanent he is, too.

Akaashi turns his head up. "I was admiring the sunset," he says, feeling the tiny curl to the corner of his mouth. He looks back down. The emptying suburban streets would be a boring and disappointing sight if it weren't for Bokuto. "Sorry, Bokuto-san."

"Sorry?" He tilts his head the other way. "Why would you be sorry?"

"You expected my attention but I wasn't giving it to you."

He straightens, throwing out his arms so he resembles a star. "But you were looking at the sunset! That's so nice!" He considers it as well, shielding his eyes with his hand. The rosy-peach light doesn't fall on him so much as it envelops him, a warm and wonderful embrace. "Oh, you were right to be looking! It's pretty!" He turns back to Akaashi. "I prefer sunrises, though."

"How so?" Akaashi asks, because he wants to know, and because he knows it is what Bokuto wants him to do.

Expectedly, Bokuto preens. "They're the start of a new day! Twenty-four hours of a gajillion possibilities that I and I alone have the power to fulfill! It pumps me up!" He's been bouncing around as he's said this, full of energy even after a hard practice.

Now Akaashi's suggestion of a smile is a faithful truth. "That's very like you, Bokuto-san."

"I know!" He swings his arms forward exaggeratedly as he resumes walking, Akaashi right behind. "So I choose to go get popsicles! Good way to end the day, huh?"

"We aren't going straight home?"

"Nope!"

Akaashi points behind them. "We passed the nearest convenience store a few minutes back."

Bokuto spins on his heels without a pause to his walking. "We're on our way!"

Their shoes patter out of sync on the sidewalk: Bokuto takes a step, and Akaashi right after, then Bokuto again, then him; _pattappattappattap_ in two tones. It bothers Akaashi a little, so he purposefully lingers on his next footstep to match Bokuto. And- there. Now, as in the court, they function as one. He smiles to himself.

Bokuto keeps talking about nothing at all, going haphazardly from topic to topic as a bird might swoop and dive, up and down, down and up. It would dizzy other people, but Akaashi can predict the pattern in which Bokuto's mind will fly. In following him, it makes Akaashi feel like he's flying too.

The convenience store's interior, glowing white, spills on the outside pavement. The doors sense them and slide open with a whoosh of chilled air and a jingle, and this artificial light grows strong. Akaashi, squinting a bit, walks in after Bokuto.

Bokuto bounds over to the frozen goods and gestures grandly. "Take your pick, Akaashi!"

The way Bokuto mushes together the sounds of his name – softening the _k_ almost to a _g_ , dragging out the long _a_ or simply not emphasizing it at all, sometimes swallowing the last vowel – fills his ears and heart. As it does every time.

"Since it's your treat," Akaashi says, "I'm fine with anything."

Bokuto blinks at him. "I don't have any money."

Akaashi opens his mouth to reply, but he's stuck on what exactly to say. Bokuto hadn't actually said he was paying for popsicles, just that he wanted them.

He settles for a sigh, although it's accompanied with a quirk of his lip. "I'll get this orange twin popsicle, so we can share it."

He pays, and he just barely has enough for it. Bokuto's other whims that he'd allowed the last month or so had depleted him of his pocket money.

Somehow, he doesn't mind.

The door jingles again and the cashier thanks them as they exit, and that bright fake light and cold give way to the comfort of the early-autumn sunset. Better.

Bokuto gets in front of him, rolling on his feet as he eagerly awaits his half of the popsicle.

 _Much better_ , Akaashi thinks, smiling.

The wrapping crinkles under his fingers as he opens it. Carefully, he grabs the popsicle by its sticks and snaps it neatly in two. He silently extends Bokuto's share to him, his other hand holding his own half and the crumpled wrapping, which he tosses in the trash.

"You're the best, Akaashi!" Bokuto says, reaching for it. Their hands brush, just for a second, but Akaashi knows he'll remember that single spot of warmth until it's his again.

Bokuto bites into the popsicle. It had dismayed Akaashi when he'd first seen it, but now he takes it in stride. It's another very-Bokuto thing. He has something to eat, so he eats it. Akaashi huffs a quiet laugh. _And he's not exactly patient, anyway_.

Were it summer, maybe Akaashi would be in a rush to finish his too. But in this unhurried walk home, the temperature and company just right, he savors its iciness, its orange flavor. _Orange_. He glances at the sky. The sun has dipped lower yet. Half of it remains above the horizon, like half an orange slice. Soon, the whole of it will be gone – but only to their eyes. The sun itself stops its radiance for no one. It is people, limited by earthly location, who pose their own narrow views on it: the sun sets and rises, they say, while the sun, hundreds of millions of kilometers away, shines and shines on, unstoppable.

Akaashi looks at Bokuto, who's preoccupied with his treat. Others complain about Bokuto's moods, how quickly he can go from soaring to drooping. But that's just who he is, and those who accept Bokuto's greatness but not his weaknesses are those who Akaashi dislikes. To be sure, Bokuto is a force to be reckoned with on the court, but he is also a person. He has his lows, but he will always return to his highs. His greatness is never really gone, after all. It just waits to come up again.

To stop Bokuto would be to smother the sun. It's beyond the means of man.

Something cold wetly hits his hand.

A good part of his popsicle melted off and has fallen to the ground, he notes with disappointment. _I didn't think I had gotten lost in thought so long._

"Aw!" Bokuto says, noticing too. "Your poor popsicle." He snickers. "Man, Akaashi, you've been spacey today! What's up with that?"

He twiddles the popsicle stick between his fingers. "I've just been thinking."

"Yeah, but what about? Other than how pretty the sunset was."

"Well." The last bit of the popsicle is starting to slide down the stick. He promptly licks it off and swallows it in one bone-shivering go. "You."

"Me?"

"Yes, you." Akaashi nods to himself. "You're taking us to nationals, Bokuto-san. And I will do my best to support you."

He hadn't thought it possible for Bokuto to perk up any more. But sometimes even Akaashi is surprised by him.

"I am!" Bokuto says, easily confident. "I'm not worried about our team qualifying at all! Especially with you there. Out of everyone in the whole world, I like you the most!"

To keep a smile in check, Akaashi purses his lips. He can taste the orange, sticky and sweet, still on them.

The smile happens anyway.

Once he would have lightly admonished Bokuto for casually dismissing everyone else; a stranger is a friend not yet made, after all, and Bokuto is dazzling enough to make friends out of everyone.

But that was before the star of Fukurodani became his teammate, and then his friend, and then the person who held his heart.

Everyone lives their own story, and so everyone finds their life's plot the most interesting of all. And maybe some really are quite intriguing, but these are stories that do not weave with Akaashi's own.

The only story he wants to read is the one he and Bokuto write together, chapter by chapter, day by day.

"I like you the most out of everyone, too," Akaashi replies.

The surprises don't end, as Bokuto swoops up his hand and triumphantly hoists it high in the sky. "We'll win it all!" he tells the sky above.

Akaashi looks up. There is nothing there save the glimmering beginnings of a speckle of stars.

He looks back to Bokuto. "Yes," he agrees, squeezing their hands, a solar flare from Bokuto immediately traveling to his very soul. "Together, we will."

**Author's Note:**

> these latest few chapters have had me ON FIRE.... i love two (2) lovebirds


End file.
